Find The Experts In a survey we did of
municipal officials in Alberta we found that when most
managers need to learn someone, they just call someone who
is likely to know. Aside from the logistical challege that
creates for knowledge systems (can you imagine online
learning as easy to access as a phone call? No? then how
will it compete?) this solution recognizes one practical
reality often overlooked by discussions of learning objects
and learning content: that the knowledge often resides in
the person, not the resource. Now this article talks about
a system of expertise management, a way for people in an
organization to identify experts or just people who know.
But why build a separate (poorly organized) system as this
item advocates? Do it this way instead: experts (or even
just people who know) are learning objects. Oh sure, they
don't have learning objectives and who knows how to index
them for granularity. But the best way to provide access to
human based and content based learning through the same
system is to represent them in the same way. Then online
learning CAN compete with the phone company. By Michael P.
Voelker , Transform, September, 2002
[Refer][Research][Reflect]

Of PowerPoint and Pointlessness More and
more teachers are using PowerPoint, according to this
article. But why? It's good for the visual learner and you
can (sometimes) read the text more easily. But if you add
to many bells and whistles you can distract the learner.
"To critics, PowerPoint serves largely the same role in the
classroom as pre-processed snack food does in the
lunchroom: a conveniently packaged morsel that looks good
but doesn't match the intellectual or corporeal nourishment
of, say, a critical essay or a plate of steamed spinach."
By Joanna Glasner, Wired News, September 3, 2002
[Refer][Research][Reflect]

Doing It Right: How Some Universities
Encourage the Creation of Prime Research Web Sites
Interesting article that looks at what prompts
universities to provide outstanding online resources. The
author found a few - the University of Michigen, for
example and asked what they had in common. Such work, it
became clear, is frequently more that the work of one
individual. Typically such a resource comes about as result
of strong internal collaboration and technical support
dedicated to a particular research project (the online
collection, some add, is a useful and happy byproduct of
the real work, which is the research itself). By Marylaine
Block, Searcher, September, 2002
[Refer][Research][Reflect]

Usability Toolkit From the website: "The
Usability Toolkit is a collection of forms, checklists and
other useful documents for conducting usability tests and
user interviews. The material may be used as is, or adapted
for specific needs." The description undersells the
resource: there is a lot of useful stuff here. Now you too
can create your own usability consultancy. By Various
Authors, Society for Technical Communication Annual
Conference, September, 2002
[Refer][Research][Reflect]

Infrastructure One major project I am
working on is the the creation of a distributed learning
object repository network, or DLORN. The intent and purpose
of DLORN is to create a learning object marketplace. The
idea here is to build an underlying infrastructure that all
players in the learning object economy can take advantage
of. Of course we have partners in the public and private
sector and of course the standard refrain is that you can't
make money from open source. I try to explain that while
nobody makes money off the infrastructure itself, everybody
can make money from the resulting activity that rides the
infrastructure. Still fuzzy? This slide show by Doc Searls
(author of the Cluetrain Manifesto) makes the concept a lok
clearer. It's 62 jpg slides, so make your way through the
story near the beginning to get to the good stuff. By Doc
Searls, OSCon, July 25, 2002
[Refer][Research][Reflect]